HTC Sensation vs. Galaxy S II vs. Optimus 2X: Head to head

Introduction

Time to lace up the gloves and step inside the ropes again. A new dual-core competitor, the HTC Sensation, is challenging the current crop of flagship droids with its fast new chipset, high-res screen, sharp-eyed camera and that classic HTC charm much of which is owed to the latest iteration of Sense UI.

We already took a lap around our review track with the Sensation but now the usual suspects will line up for a straight forward drag race. There'll be a series of dedicated tests and one simple rule: the first phone across the line wins.

This is a dual-core rematch and this time focus will be more on the new kid, the Sensation, than the rest, which we've already covered.

Different features have different value to people, so we'll have a series of tests: for the screen, the performance, the camera, GPS and battery. Based on those you can pick your own champion. We'll try to pick an overall winner but it's impossible to single out the ultimate best.

For one, the metal-rich construction of the HTC Sensation puts it a step ahead of the mostly plastic-made competitors. The qHD resolution is very near the distinguished Retina display, but the screen is a massive 4.3-incher, quite bigger than the iPhone 4’s.

Also, the Sense UI 3.0 is very polished - there's hardly a nook or cranny left without eye-catching graphics and 3D effects. Underneath all that gloss is tons of functionality too, like the phonebook or the awesome new lockscreen. But you'll have to have a look back at the review for a description of those, today it is all about the high-octane performance.

HTC Sensation official photos

In today’s match, we'll be using three phones primarily: the HTC Sensation, the Samsung Galaxy S II and the LG Optimus 2X. We’ve also invited several other stars for guest appearances: the iPhone 4 has a cameo in our display test, while the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc features in the still camera comparison.

As you see, we have a lot in front of us and competition is quite tight. You can wave the checkered flag now, we - and the droids too - are ready to go.

Apple, Now What?

Steve Jobs' death leaves Apple without its founding visionary, a blow unlikely to affect Apple's short-term success but one that challenge the company as it continues to fend off rivals.

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Jobs stepped down and ceded the CEO post to longtime deputy Tim Cook in August, leaving his company to execute a five-year product road map that may set Apple up for success at least during the foreseeable future.

Jobs originally stayed on in the capacity of chairman to continue consulting with the company, but with his passing, that post is now empty, bringing up questions on the company's long-term ability to stay innovative.

Thanks to Jobs' leadership, the company is unlikely to lose momentum anytime soon. It remains the wealthiest tech business in the world, with iPhone, iPad and iPod sales continuing to climb despite increased competition from Android rivals.

Apple's iTunes and App Store see billions of dollars in revenue, even earning the company a world record for most popular app marketplace and most mobile gaming sales. The second quarter this year was the company's best-ever, with a bright outlook if the new iPhone 4S performs well during the holiday season.

Apple looks to continue this upward momentum under CEO Tim Cook and his team, whoaim to keep Jobs' vision alive in his absence.

"Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple," Cook assured his employees in an email.

Working with Cook is designer Jonathon Ive, credited with helping design the iPod and iPad, which remain the top sellers in their field.

Ive, along with Cook and other long-time members of Apple's team, faces the difficult task of preserving Jobs' core principles while remaining flexible enough to change as the future demands.

Jobs' loss may make it hard for his team to walk the line between preserving his legacy and continuing to innovate, but increased competition in the mobile market will likely force them to tackle the task. Companies that lose their founders risk attempting to follow their ideologies too rigidly rather than forging ahead, a mistake Apple cannot afford to make in the fast-paced, highly competitive tech industry.

Android competitors like Samsung, HTC and Motorola now claim 40 percent of the smartphone market share in the U.S. Samsung especially poses a threat to the Cupertino, Calif.-based company, selling 19 million units to Apple's 20.3 million during the second quarter.

Amazon's new Kindle Fire also aims to take on Apple's iPad, boasting a souped-up version of Android and access to Amazon's competing cloud storage and online app service.

Microsoft too, although claims only a sliver of the smartphone market to date, may rise to challenge Apple if its partnership with Nokia pan out. The Redmond, Wash.-based company's Windows Phone software is set to debut on Nokia's handsets, which still have a wide reach globally and may revolutionize the lower-end market.

Apple faces competition on all sides, but the company stands to do well if it follows in Jobs' footsteps and continues to churn out profitable, innovative products even after its five-year plan expires.

U.S. market share stats are in: Google’s future is bright, RIM’s not so much

comScore published its latest findings for mobile subscriber market share in the U.S. and discovered that once again, Samsung is the number one mobile phone manufacturer by the numbers. At the end of August, the company claimed a 25.3 percent of the entire mobile market, or approximately one-fourth. This is up 0.5 percent from May.

Next in line is LG with exactly 21 percent, down from 21.1 percent, so overall it’s pretty steady. After that comes Motorola, which surprisingly saw a decline of 1.1 percent to 14 percent. Apple as usual saw gains, this time an increase to 9.8 percent from 8.7. Finally, we get to RIM. This sad company is shedding more tears as they fall one percent to 7.1 percent market share. Granted, this isn’t all that bad considering Apple is only slightly ahead, but the future is not bright for RIM.

In the smartphone segment, Google is dominating with a cool 43.7 percent market share. I applaud its incredible 5.6 percent gain overall in just three months. Apple follows behind with a 27.3 percent share, up from 26.6 percent. Expect a boost once more this quarter thanks to the iPhone 4S. RIM, Microsoft, and Symbian each lost a piece of the pie this time around, with their percentages now at 19.7, 5.7, and 1.8, respectively. In the three month time span, RIM lost a full 5 percent cut.

At the end of August, there were 84.5 million smartphone users in the United States according to comScore. In the previous three month period, there were approximately 75 million. As smartphones slowly take over the world, the winners and losers are becoming more clear. Google’s Android has won the OS race, Apple has won the hardware race for smartphones, and Samsung wins the hardware race for mobile phones in general. RIM, well, lost. But this is a technology market we are talking about, and things can (and do) change rapidly.

Samsung Nexus Prime specifications leak out

The Samsung Nexus Prime is probably the most anticipated device after the iPhone, and now that the 4S has been unveiled, the hype about the Prime reaches its peak. 

BGR now claims to know pretty much everything about the Nexus Prime as a “trusted source” has spilled the specifications. Most of them confirm previous rumors, but in either case while they look credible, we'd still take them with a pinch of salt until we get official confirmation.

So with no further ado, here’s what the Nexus Prime is expected to be:

• Powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich,
• 9mm thin,
• with a 4.65-inch 1280 x 720-pixel Super AMOLED HD with curved glass,
• a TI OMAP 4460 dual-core Cortex A9 processor clocked at 1.2GHz,
• 1GB of RAM,
• 32GB of built-in storage,
• 5-megapixel camera on the back, 1.3-megapixel in the front,
• 1080p HD video capture support,
• LTE/HSPA depending on carrier,
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n,
• NFC,
• and a 1,750 mAh battery.

So basically, this confirms all previous rumors and if that is indeed true, it will make the Nexus Prime the first device to trump the iPhone 4S in terms of screen resolution in 16 months. The 4.65-inch screen however will probably mean a lower pixel density than the iPhone. 

Not surprsingly, the Nexus Prime won't have any skins like the TouchWiz UI, but will rather come with vanilla Android. Verizon seem to also have nabbed exclusive rights to the Prime stateside, but that seems the least certain of all.

Looking at the rest of the specs, the most thrilling addition is LTE, which is said to arrive on carriers supporting it (Verizon users, rejoice!). The only slightly disappointing part of the spec sheet is the pixel count as 5-megapixel seems a bit low for the high-end profile of the Nexus Prime. We all know that image quality depends on more than just the megapixels, though. Do we have the best Android to date? Chime in with your opinions below.

Steve Jobs has died

A statement from Apple's Board of Directors has just been released saying that Apple's iconic leader, Steve Jobs, has passed away. There is no information out right now except for the statement from the board. 

Apple has already set up a memorial page for Steve with an e-mail address where you can send your condolences to Steve's family. 

The statement from Apple's Board reads: 

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. 

Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. 

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

This is certainly sad news, and we'll have more as it comes out. He was just 56 years old.

Apple iPhone 4S vs Apple iPhone 4: spot the differences

Well, Apple just pulled an... Apple move, and upgraded its flagship iOS handset exactly where it counts to make it relevant with the high-rollers again, without going overboard on costs. It might happen that, when the first teardown comes out, the bill of materials will be even less for theiPhone 4S then when the iPhone 4 came out, thus increasing the profit margin further, while the handset stays up with the best for quite some time still.

For those of us who are having trouble spotting a difference between their trusted iPhone 4 and the new kid on the block the iPhone 4S with the naked eye, here's a comparison table with just the changes:

If you want to know more what the main difference - a dual-core A5 chip - brings currently and potentially, have a look at our overview of the multicore advantages. If you are curious about the animal that is Bluetooth 4.0, compared to 2.1, here's a scoop.

So with the iPhone 4S in your hand you can go tit-for-tat with any Android road warrior now. When they mumble LTE, large display or Adobe Flash, well... you'll figure something out, but when they brag about multicore chips, you run Infinity Blade 2. When they say Full HD video, you show them 1080p clips of your cat. When they say HD displays, you quote your pixel density. When they tout NFC, you brag Bluetooth 4.0. When they quote activation numbers, you respond with revenue from Greater China. Who's Smartypants now?

Apple iPhone 4S is finally announced!

And just like that, Apple has announced the latest and greatest iteration of its signature device - ladies and gentlemen, prepare to meet the long, looong-anticipatedApple iPhone 4S!

For those of us who have hoped for a redesign, well... obviously we're out of luck on this one. The design remains exactly the same as we know it from the beautiful iPhone 4 - glass and steel, 3.5" of IPS-LCD touchscreen goodness. But, Apple's Phil Shiller didn't miss to note that on the inside, the iPhone 4S is brand new. For example, one of the more notable new features will be the same chip that we know form the iPad 2 - the dual core A5. What it will bring to table, of course, is faster overall performance in a number of aspects of the system.

Next up, we have an updated radio and antenna system. You might be surprised to learn that the iPhone 4S will actually be a world phone, supporting both CDMA and GSM connectivity - yey! But we guess that means no 4G... Anyways, the upgrade of the radio has now brought faster data - 14.4 Mbit/s on the downlink, and 5.76 Mbit/s on the uplink, which is comparable to many 4G-branded HSPA+ smartphonesnowadays.

The iPhone 4S will feature an 8MP camera and 1080p video recording

Naturally, as we all expected, the camera of the Apple iPhone 4S will pack a total of 8 megapixels, instead of 5 as in the iPhone 4. However, they say that the new sensor will be able to collect the significant 73% more light, over the previous generation, so who knows, low-light performance of the most popular camera on Flickr might be really improved! But that's not the only point of enhancement that has been announced for the new 8MP camera of the Apple iPhone 4S. According to Apple, the time it takes you to capture the first shot is now just 1.1 second, and from then on, shot-to-shot times are just 0.5 sec. Impressive indeed.

But there's more in store for camera aficionados. How about something related to video? You guessed it -1080p video recording will be available on the iPhone 4S. They didn't specify at what framerates this will be recorded, but we're hoping for 30.

The all-new voice command feature "Siri"

But now, let's head to the more intriguing new stuff.Voice integration! The new voice command service will be called... Siri. (How ingenius!) Apparently, the new voice control service utilized in the iPhone 4S will be quite smart, and will be able to follow context. So how do you use it? You just have to hold down the home button, and then your personal assistant in the form of "Siri" will be listening to your questions. Interestingly, you'll be able to use Siri for many different kinds of stuff. For example, you can just ask "What's the weather like today?", or "Do I need to get my raincoat today?", and it will answer you in context, also bringing up a screen showing the current temperature and forecast. Or, you might say "Wake me up in 6AM tomorrow.", and guess what, Siri will automatically set your alarm for 6AM tomorrow! Isn't that awesome? We can't wait to see the extent of this, and how it will be adopted by users.

Thankfully, battery life will remain pretty decent, even with this new A5 processor, with Apple promising talk-time of up to 8 hours in 3G, 6 hours of 3G browsing, or 9 hours of Wi-Fi browsing.

So when is all that going to become a reality in the stores? Here it goes: theApple iPhone 4S release date is October 14, with pre-orders starting on October 7. The iPhone 4S price will be the same as usual - $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, but for the first time, there'll also be a 64GB version, available for $399. Additionally, iPhone 4 8GB for $99 will remain on sale, and so will the iPhone 3GS 8GB... for free! So, there goes your budget-friendly iPhone.

But on which carriers will the iPhone 4S launch? Ready for a third carrier to enter the iPhone party? That's right - AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will all be offering the Apple iPhone 4S (sorry, T-Mobile folks). So that actually marks the first time Sprint will have the iPhone in its line-up. Well, congrats to Sprint, and all of us for witnessing the next big thing from Apple's camp. You guys stay tuned for our iPhone 4S review, hopefully coming soon enough!